More than 10,000 troops marched through Tiananmen Square in Beijing last week, accompanied by a large number of advanced weapons, supposedly to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, but actually to demonstrate China’s transformation from the sick man of Asia to an emerging superpower.
President Xi Jinping was resplendent in his Mao suit, and accompanied by a who’s who of global autocrats, all men, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel, Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso and Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni.
A hot mic recorded Putin and Xi casually discussing immortality via organ harvesting, the kind of super-villain fever dream cherished by the ultra-rich everywhere.
Bizarrely, Victoria’s own ‘Dictator’ Dan Andrews managed to squeeze into the official photo, giving encouragement to Australian conspiracy theorists, although former NSW premier and federal foreign affairs minister Bob Carr had enough sense to stay out of it, saying he was there to acknowledge the Chinese victims of Japanese atrocities during the war, such as the Rape of Nanking.
Unfortunately for the Australian delegation, the dictators they joined in China are responsible for so much bloodshed it could stain enough red carpets to go round the world several times, including the murders of many of their own citizens, and their neighbours, in an endless quest for personal power.
These are largely countries where dissent is crushed and the state controls every aspect of daily life.
For some people, in some places, the price may be regarded as worth it, and a better alternative to the messiness and dysfunction of democracy.
Undoubtedly it looked that way to US President Donald Trump, gnashing his teeth in the White House as he watched the gleaming Chinese tanks and pondered going to war against Chicago.
The names are coming out
Also in Washington, a circling fighter jet organised by the Trump regime failed to drown out the voices of a number of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who said they had their own list of abusers which would be released if the government failed to make the Epstein documents public.
These women now have the support of enough Republican and Democratic law-makers to make this a reality, with the names of the powerful men involved potentially to be read out in Congress under the protection of the US version of parliamentary privilege.
This is why Trump’s lackeys have been scrambling to distract Americans by releasing already public documents, and claiming their man to have been a CIA mole during the Epstein years, working valiantly behind the scenes as some kind of pedophile double agent, instead of a willing participant or worse, an enabler.
Over one hundred Epstein survivors appeared on Capitol Hill via the Meidas Network livestream, including a number who had never told their stories publicly before.
The courage of these women is remarkable. Sadly, a number of them are no longer with us, including Virginia Giuffre, who died in Australia early this year, and whose posthumous book will soon be released.
The words of Anouska De Georgiou were particularly powerful. ‘I stand before you today as a survivor of both Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell,’ she said.
‘Every day of this journey toward healing has come at a profound cost to my mental health, but I am here.’
She said she was honouring other victims who were no longer able to speak. ‘Their voices mattered. Their stories must not be forgotten. Accountability is what makes a society civilised…
‘If Ghislaine Maxwell were pardoned, it would undermine all the sacrifices I made to testify and make a mockery of mine and all survivors suffering. That is why the Epstein Files Transparency Act is so essential…
‘Crucially, it forbids withholding documents simply because of embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity. This is about ending secrecy wherever abuse of power takes root, but transparency alone is not enough. Survivors need protection, resources and legal support.’
Anouska De Georgiou made it clear her mission went beyond Epstein. ‘Transparency must be matched by support, or else too many victims will remain silent out of fear and lack of access.
‘The statistics demand action. Nearly one in five women in America will experience rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Every 74 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted. Every nine minutes that person is a child. These are not numbers. They are people,’ she said.
‘The days of sweeping this under the rug are over. We the survivors say no more… the only motive for opposing this bill would be to conceal wrongdoing. You have a choice – stand with the truth or with the lies that have protected predators for decades. I am no longer weak. I am no longer powerless.’
Can the orange distraction machine continue to squash this story? It seems unlikely. In the long run, autocracy is no match for justice.
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
You can find more of his writing at Patreon and Gumroad.
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